The People’s Committee of Hanoi has asked relevant agencies to continue working on a plan to ban motorbikes from the inner city by 2030 despite public concerns.

The plan falls under a set of initiatives approved by the municipal administration to develop the Vietnamese capital city’s urban economy from 2025 with a vision to 2030. 

The initiatives include 33 missions, projects, plans, and programs.

Specifically, the city hopes to increase the urban economy’s contribution to its regional domestic product to 85 percent by 2025 and 90 percent by 2030.

The city has also asked that the municipal Department of Transport coordinate with relevant agencies to formulate a plan which would zone inner-city areas with sufficient public transport infrastructure as motorbike-free by 2030. 

The plan would also include levying charges on vehicles entering some high-traffic areas.

Plans to ban motorbikes from inner-city areas have been brought up several times over the years, but experts and residents have voiced concerns about their feasibility.

Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thuy, former director of the Transport Publishing House, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that Hanoi’s infrastructure is at a level that cannot support a motorbike ban.

“Cars can’t travel on narrow [inner-city] roads but motorbikes can. Banning motorbikes [from the inner city] would cause travel difficulties for residents,” Thuy said.

Hanoians make 14 million trips per day. The city’s current public transport system can only meet 10 percent of that demand.

According to Thuy, about 70 percent of the city’s residents currently rely on motorbikes for transportation. 

If motorbikes are prohibited and residents respond by buying cars, traffic congestion may surge 300-400 percent.

The city also charged the municipal Department of Construction with fulfilling housing development tasks between 2021 and 2025 with a focus on social housing. 

The Department of Construction was also told to upgrade and rebuild deteriorating apartment buildings, embellish valuable architectural works, put electrical and telecom cables underground on 300 streets, and manage and revitalize villas.

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